Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is an able champion for his brand, but even he couldn't muster up much enthusiasm over sales of his Surface RT tablet in a recent interview with a French newspaper. Unless something was seriously lost in translation, sales of Microsoft's slate have been "modest" so far—but just you wait until its big brother gets here.

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Ballmer pivoted to Surface Pro, the x86, full Windows version of his harried tablet, as a hope for the future. Which is totally fair; the promise of Surface portability with a full Windows 8 machine is tantalizing. But now might be a good time to remind ourselves that there's no firm Surface Pro release date or price, which means that our expectations for its timely arrival should be, well, modest at best. [Le Parisien via PocketNow]